In certain multi-speed transmissions, particularly those of the type wherein gear shifting is achieved through the use of an axially slidable input gear means on an input shaft to engage individual output gear means associated with an adjacent output shaft for achieving variations in rotational speed of the output shaft relative to the input shaft, it has heretofore been conventional to provide a rigid gear shifting lever which is so functionally associated with the slidable input gear means that pivotal movements of the terminal portion of the lever's arm axially moves the slidable gear means relative to the output gear means for achieving a desired gear shifting and engagement.
With such a prior art rigid shifting lever, it is necessary to have clamping means for fixing such lever in a predetermined location once a desired gear shift and engagement has been achieved, suitable such clamping means commonly involving bolts, pins or other common detent means some of which characteristically require an appreciable amount of time for operation both before and after a shifting operation from one shift location to another thereof has been carried out.
Also, with such a rigid shifting lever, in shifting, an operator frequently found it necessary to jog a stopped machine in order to bring the transmission input gear means into actual engagement with the output gear means so as to achieve a desired machine operating speed. The necessity to jog a machine can be a relatively dangerous undertaking since in jogging while shifting an operator can be dangerously close to moving machine components. Also, in many industrial environments, a given machine is subject to being operated by more than one person at any given time. Therefore, an operator who is in the process of shifting gears on a transmission requiring jogging for gear engagement is in danger of being injured.
There is, therefore, a need in the transmission art for a mechanism which will enable an operator to shift gears in a multi-speed transmission without the need for time consuming auxiliary operations and without the need for jogging to achieve a desired gear engagement.